Could Donald Trump be in the process of destroying the Grand ole’ Party?…Open Thread for Feb. 16, 2019….

Donald Trump campaigned AGAINST the Republican Party to get the parties nomination for President….

In doing so?

He stole the parties voters from the lawmakers…

He hasn’t looked back to much since, going his own way to the dismay of lawmakers who know better, but are scared of his supporter’s blind trust in him…Not them…

Trump has declared a border wall national emergency to further emasculate his parties lawmakers….

There will be time when Donald J. Trump leaves the Presidency….

What will be left of the Grand ole’ Party when he’s gone?

The Republican resistance to Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration was much more pronounced in the Senate than in the House, where a few Republicans — in the minority but more closely aligned to Mr. Trump — groused. But most of the conservative rank and file embraced it.

After threatening to kill the spending compromise needed to keep the government open, Mr. Trump opted to cite a national emergency to pry loose additional funding to build a wall longer than the 55 miles in the bipartisan agreement. It was the divisive step that Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, Ms. Capito and most other Republicans in the Senate had forcefully urged him not to take, because it would establish a precedent they feared future Democratic presidents would use against them.

The decision left Mr. McConnell, a professed guardian of the Senate’s prerogatives and power, joining with Mr. Trump in supporting an executive branch end run greater than any of the incursions into the legislative process he often accused President Obama of pursuing. Fellow senators said Mr. McConnell, a former member of the Appropriations Committee, was unhappy with the declaration but saw it as the only way to pass the spending bill.

Some top Republicans, led by Mr. McConnell, pivoted quickly to say they supported the president’s action because it was the only option left to him after Congress failed to meet his demands for wall funding. Mr. McConnell has even begun offering the president strategic advice on how best to push his plan, aides said.

But Mr. McConnell is also warning Mr. Trump of the damage it could inflict on the party heading into the 2020 elections. Other Republicans portrayed it as a gross violation of the constitutional separation of powers, a blatant disregard by the president for Congress’s fundamental role in determining how federal dollars are spent…..

A senior government official who was involved in the spending negotiations over the past few weeks told Jonathan Swan the experience taught them something disturbing.

Said the official: “We’re going to go to the edge on everything.”

“The White House has just gotten through a spending fight that pushed Congress — and the federal workforce affected by the shutdown — to the brink. But even uglier skirmishes are imminent, including whether to raise the federal government’s debt limit and break Congress’ self-imposed budget caps.”…..

A new eye doctor….
Nice guy….
Asked me why I was getting glasses….
Explained I was a blogger that spent several hours a day sitting in front of the computer screen….

He asked what did I blog about….
Politics was my reply….

I gave a general sentence about where I was personally….

He looked at me and said everyone had their politics and he was a conservative….
No problem was my answer….
They I asked why?

He went on to give the view that America needs to safe and secure….
And felt that Trump was fighting for that…

We moved over to immigration…
He said that ALL immigration should be legal….
I countered that like the Berlin Wall?
You will NEVER be able to stop everyone from trying to come to America…
He nodded and said of course his relatives emigrated to this country….

I went on…
People that came to this country illegaly 5 to 20 years ago , that can prove they’ve paid taxes should have a method to obtain citizenship….
He countered with they should…
But they should go back…
Go back where?….I asked…
Someone here for 10 or 20 years has no place to go back to….
He asked how can we prove they have paid their taxes?
How did they get a social security card?
I don’t know I replied….
But if they paid?
Who cares?

He thought for a moment…

I pressed on….
Actually Obama had deported more people then Trump I thought

He replied he didn’t trust Obama…
I sat their looking at the guy say he didn’t trust Obama but he HAD to Trust Trump?

We went on…
And as the conversation played out I pointed out the misgivings I have for politicians PERIOD….

He acknowledged with me that Democrats could be against illegal immigration
But could also be looking for a human way to treat those detained…
That even as he repeated the Stephen Miller BS line that about ALL immigrants where criminals….

I got me order for glasses
And the doctor smiled and told my wife he enjoyed speaking to people with different views…

It helped him lean different things just as others learned different things from him….

Paul Manafort asked a federal judge in Virginia to give him a prison term “significantly below” the 19 to 24 years called for under sentencing guidelines, calling that range “clearly disproportionate to” his crimes of bank and tax fraud, the Washington Post reports…..

Former Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) died on Saturday, The State reports. He was 97.

“Better known as ‘Fritz’ Hollings, the South Carolina Democrat served in the state’s House of Representatives before becoming Lieutenant Governor in 1954. He was elected governor of the state in 1958. He won a special election for one of South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seats in 1966 where he served until 2003.”….